Contents

Official Description

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The Hotburple can be a hot mess. Literally! A louder, fussier and lazier Boulder Class cousin to the Gronckle. A nap is never too far away.The slow Hotburple is anything but lazy when it comes to battle. Opponents will have trouble getting out of its way!

Vikings have described this dragon to be a mash-up of a walrus, bulldog, tadpole and trashcan but don’t let its sluggish looks fool you, the Hotburple has a striking power that parallels with that of a Night Fury’s. Like its Boulder Class brethren, the Gronckle, Hotburples are covered in bumps and have an affinity for molten minerals as well as possess the ability to make lava slugs out of iron ore.

Development

Physical Appearance

These dragons' eggs are oval in shape. They have large, smooth bumps protruding outwards from the entirety of the egg, just like those on an adult's body, though the ones on the eggs are more protrusive and larger, clumped more closely together. The egg, as with most dragons, seems to reflect the colouring of the baby Hotburple who is to emerge.

Interestingly, some individuals such as Basket Case, are able to lay multi-colored eggs. These eggs do not correspond to the colours of the dragon to hatch.

Hotburples strongly resemble their Gronckle relatives, although they have a larger body and wings, as well as their eyes being positioned closer to the snout than to the ears. Hotburples also appear to have a larger tail bludgeon and a slightly smaller jaw, but with sharper and smaller teeth compared to Gronckles. Like Gronckles, Hotburples have tough body scales and hard bumps protruding from all over them. Their bodies are more multi-segmented than those of Gronckles, and the segments are larger in relation to one another.

Titan Wing Hotburples have different shades of blue and white as well as large dark blue spots on their body. Spines run along their body lengthwise and their initially significantly clubbed tail has been reduced to a smaller tail. They have grown a lot larger and stockier in build.

Abilities

Jaw Strength

Just like the Gronckles', the Hotburples' powerful jaws are able to crush boulders and iron. According to Ryker, the Hotburple is the only dragon species that can bite through dragon-proof metal.

Speed and Agility

Hotburples are not the fastest of dragons. Their flight speed is the same as that of a Gronckle, despite Hotburples possessing larger wings, and their speed on land can barely be accounted for, given the fact that they move so little. When Hotburples do move, they do it slowly, in an almost lizard-like fashion. Their agility, except for when they are in a battle (when both speed and agility shoots up by a mile), is not particularly outstanding, as they are quite slow, and thus don't move quick enough in order to make tight turns. These dragons are also known to be clumsy, and often make guesswork of their landings, flopping to the ground when they can't really be bothered to time their landing correctly.

Strength and Combat

A Hotburple in combat is an entirely different sight to what you would expect: the dragon goes into a frenzy when provoked, knocking down everything in its path and butting into enemies with roaring and ferocity. All Hotburples possess a large, powerful clubbed tail that can knock multiple people unconscious. They are able to carry heavy Vikings with a settle chair saddle in addition, and a Rumblehorn with their claws, indicating a greater strength even than Gronckles. This would fit with the key factors of most Boulder Class Dragons, the class being renowned for its strength. Just like Gronckles, Hotburples can use their large nasal horn and their rounded heads to charge and ram their enemies.

Durability and Stamina

With highly defensive armors on their bodies, the Hotburples' durability is greater than the Gronckles'. And they have great stamina as Grump had shown to be able to travel long distances with his rider on his back.

Sleep Flight

If they get exhausted from flying, Hotburples have a special ability that allows them to continue to fly when they fall asleep. This ability is possibly similar to that of dolphins, allowing them to keep one half or a part of their brain awake whilst the other part sleeps. Gronckles however, tend to fall out of the sky, crashing into an ocean, roofed forest, or a grassy field.

Just like Gronckles, Hotburples can recharge their shot limits by feeding off of and digesting rocks or scrap iron before firing them as balls of molten lava.

Weaknesses

Hotburples are one of the laziest dragons known to exist, even lazier than Gronckles as Meatlug was awake for the full second movie whereas Grump was asleep for most of it. They also happen to be very slow and clumsy, as well as frequently falling asleep, often at inconvenient times. However, when sufficiently angered, a Hotburple becomes far more active and dangerous, making up for said weaknesses.

Behavior and Personality

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The biggest challenge for Academy trainers is keeping them awake long enough for lessons! The second biggest challenge is keeping the pens standing ― Hotburples have a tendency to sleepwalk. Through the walls.[src]

Hotburples are much lazier compared to Gronckles, as they sleep more and snore even louder. As mentioned in the Hearty Hotburple's description in Dragons: Titan Uprising, Hotburples are prone to sleepwalking, with them not waking up even after walking through a wall.

They might be decsribed as having the personality of a lazy cat, which is opposed to Gronckles, which have a bit of a bulldog-like personality. They have a high appetite for minerals and iron, but mostly just eat scraps, which do the same job.

Despite this, they can be incredibly aggressive and hostile if faced with a crisis. This can be displayed when Grump, the supposedly docile and tame Hotburple, attacked the Dragon Hunters in order to save Gobber.

Hotburples are one of the easiest dragons to train, due to their indolent, sedentary and docile nature. Feeding them rock or scrap metal will quickly earn the dragons' trust, as well as behaving kindly towards them. Once trained, the dragons will remain loyal to their owners and will do anything to protect them. Owing chiefly to their laziness, Hotburples are often taken advantage of, or not treated very kindly, often being used merely as giant forges through which people can create metal. Therefore, a little kindliness goes a long way with a Hotburple, and they will be friendly towards near enough anyone.

Appearances

When Hiccup, Gobber, and the rest of the Dragon Riders plans to disrupt Viggo Grimborn’s dragon auction in "Last Auction Heroes", they come across a Hotburple named Grump. As Gobber forms a bond with Grump, it is revealed that the Dragon Hunters are mistreating the dragon to become a living garbage disposal that eats all the scrap iron. Ryker Grimborn also says that Hotburple is the only species with jaws strong enough to bite through dragon-proof metal, which allows Grump to break the Dragon Riders out when they got captured. Once the auction is disrupted, Grump accepts Gobber as his rider as they fly together to Berk with the other Dragon Riders.

A Titan Wing Hotburple appears in this game, playing the role of a 'big boss' that the player must defeat in order to advance in the game. Later, Astrid is seen tending to an injured Hotburple on Valka's Mountain.

Trivia

The official measurements given by DreamWorks Animation do not appear to be realistic when considering the relative sizes the viewer sees within the Franchise. Based on the Model Sheet for the Hotburple, this dragon should have a Wingspan of 31 feet and 5 inches.

Since Hotburples are very similar to Gronckles in terms of appearance, behaviour and abilities, it is likely that the two dragon species are from the same family, just like the Night Fury and the Light Fury.